This morning the nominees for the 2014 Golden Globes were announced today, leaving Pixar fans scratching their heads and Disney fans jumping for joy.

Best Animated Feature Film

For the Best Animated Feature Film category, there were surprisingly only three nominees: Frozen, Despicable Me 2, and The Croods. Last year there were four nominees. There’s no rationale given as to why only three were selected this year, especially since there were just as many animated films released in 2013 as there were in 2012.

Frozen’s inclusion is a no-brainer. I’m also excited to see The Croods make the final cut because it was one of my favorite animated films of the year. And of course, I thought Despicable Me 2 was absolutely hilarious and a pretty fantastic sequel that rivaled the first Despicable Me film.

The biggest shocker came in what wasn’t nominated, particularly Pixar’s Monsters University, which was considered a shoo-in by many in the animation community. Its omission and the lack of nominations for The Blue Umbrella have left many Pixar fans confused as to why Pixar has been snubbed so much this year in the awards circuit. Pixar actually has received a nomination in this category every year since the category’s inception in 2006. It may just be an off year for Pixar; the studio has been the animation awards king for much of the last decade.

Personally, three nominees seems a bit too small for this category. When there are more nominees, such as four or five, most of us know that a few of them don’t stand a chance. But at least they got a little bit of recognition. Maybe this is the Golden Globes attempt to make sure that only the best of the best are nominated, while letting us know that all other “filler” nominees aren’t even worth nominating. Either way, it’s a pretty harsh snub.

Best Original Song

The other animation nomination went to Frozen’s“Let It Go” for for the Best Original Song category. This nomination is hardly a surprise, since powerhouse Broadway star Idina Menzel absolutely kills it and many already consider the song to be one of the best Disney song’s of all time.

Best Foreign Film

Studio Ghibli’s The Wind Rises, while not nominated for best animated feature film, did however get the nomination for Best Foreign Film. Interesting that it didn’t back it in both categories, but either way, I’m still excited for the film. It will be the only animated film in the running, so hopefully it can come out on top.

For Your Consideration Posters

Also, A113Animation pointed out some of the fantastic for your consideration advertisements via Awards Daily. Check them out below.

The 71st annual Golden Globe Awards will be air on Sunday, January 12, 2014.

Were you surprised with the Golden Globes nominees for Best Animated Feature Film? Did you favorite make the list?

About Morgan Stradling

Morgan is a native of Arizona and is a desert rat who loves the heat--she doesn’t even turn on the AC in her car in the middle of the summer! She loves big eyeliner, Survivor, Lady Gaga, and, of course, animated films. She has her MBA in Marketing from ASU and now works as a Product Manager for a tech company. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Stephanie

I was very surprised to not see Monsters University among the nominees. Though I don’t think Pixar deserved top honors last year, it seems strange they were shut out this year for what I thought was a mostly enjoyable movie. I am rooting for Frozen all the way to the Oscars, so I’m not too concerned with the other nominees.

I was also shocked to not see The Wind Rises in the animation category. I decided to look back at previous years and saw that Waltz with Bashir and Persepolis were also included in the foreign language category at the Globes and not animation, so there is a precedent for the nomination category.

This is really… weird. I was already in the Frozen camp as far as awards season is concerned, but I want Pixar to be nominated too. Admittedly, Monsters University isn’t Pixar’s strongest film, but not even a nomination. I haven’t seen The Wind Rises, but based on all the praise I hear it’s also weird it’s not nominated.

I haven’t seen Croods or DM2, I’ve only seen bits and pieces of DM1, but I think Frozen has a pretty solid chance here.

אריה הזהב

I saw three films, and frozen most worthy of winning.

Mari

Hm, I’m a bit disappointed with Frozen’s poster. It seems like the others got cool posters and Frozen got a screencap of Elsa (looking like she ate something nasty, if you don’t put it in context with the scene in the movie), no Anna, Kristoff, or even Olaf in sight.

Megan

I am extremely surprised that MU wasn’t included! But I think I’m more shocked at ‘The Wind Rises’ considering it is generally considered Frozen’s biggest competition

Obviously I am not surprised Frozen got the nominations. I am surprised that Monsters University did not get nominated. It doesn’t have the bad reviews that Cars 2 had. We’ll shall see. But I think Disney Animation Studios will have a great year ‘for the first time in forever’ haha. They were almost there with The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Wreck It Ralph. Now, it is for certain that they will win something.

Fadi Antwan

Obviously Frozen will win this award in January. I’m so happy for WDAS already, well deserved. I think The Croods deserves the nomination too. It’s my second favorite of the year and actually the only other great animated movie released in 2013. The others were hardly good. But I am disappointed that DM2 was nominated instead of MU…Oh well. Regarding The Wind Rises, there’s a rule regarding foreign animated films at the Golden Globes. They can’t nominated for both Best Animated Film and Best Foreign Film. I read that the distributor makes the decision of which category to nominate the movie for. This makes sense since The Wind Rises got nominated for the latter category.

I love Pixar films, and Monsters Inc. is an amazing film but Monsters University wasn’t snubbed it just wasn’t very good film. Pixar is in a bit of a creative slump right now.

Nathan C.

So…Epic gets nominated and not MU?

I need to lie down.

Adam Ball

Epic wasn’t nominated. That was just their “For your consideration poster” they sent in to the Golden Globes.

V

From what I have heard, the Golden Globes has a rule where they allow a movie to compete in only ONE of their Best Picture categories: Drama, Comedy/Musical, Animated and Foreign Language. They allow studios to pick which category they want to compete in.

So apparently Studio Ghibli picked the Foreign Language Film category for The Wind Rises to compete in over Animated Film. While Disney Animation picked Animated Film for Frozen to compete in over the Comedy/Musical category. Explains why TWR and Frozen weren’t nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film and Best Comedy/Musical Film categories respectively.

Aliscen Khaw

omg the wind is rising one! haha they should have picked another scene for the poster. Despicable me2 super cute!!! XD frozen~elsa~ i wish she had a bigger part in the movie==

Adam Ball

I LOVE that Frozen poster. The simplicity is edgy and beautiful. Plus it is one of the most stunning moments in the movie. I agree MU was snubbed. It was a good film. Had great elements, beautiful animation, really entertaining storyline. It should have got recognized. I hope they actually research the films, because if they chose solely from those posters, MU does have sort of a boring poster.